the screws are metal 3 of themand i had a midfoot fusion 5 years ago. i just recently started having pain. on a scale of 1-10 qbout a 7 or 8. i have a big bump on the top of my foot and i just don't know what is the norm. they had to perform this fusion because of tramatic arthur. i am only 39 and i really don't want to have another surgery that midfoot fusion was a very long recovery. if you have to get screws out how long does it take to recover from that?
thanks
laurel

I can relate to your situation. I had quite a few screws put in my ankle when I broke it in 2000. A couple of years later they were getting ready to do an arthoscopic procedure to help with the arthritis I had developed. At that time, I could feel one of the big screws sticking out a little bit on the inside of my ankle It felt like a bump. The dr said they could remove it when they did the scope since it was causing me some discomfort. They actually removed two screws during the procedure.
Last year, I had an external fixator placed to fuse my ankle. When they removed the fixator they took out the remaining screws. I had an infection at the time, so my dr wanted to take out all the metal in my ankle to reduce the chance of the infection spreading.
I am not sure how long or what kind of procedure would be done to remove the screws outside of any other procedure. I just wanted to let you know I have been through a similar experience.
I have a question for you if you don't mind me asking. How did you end up with such bad arthritis at such a young age? I had my ankle fused at the age of 36 due to post traumatic arthritis from a fall.
Thanks!
Step

i was in a automobile wreck back in 1993 and broke 15 bones. all my fractures were open. on that same foot they had to remove the maleolis(bottom part of my ankle bone_due to the fact it would not heal. i have had 17 ortho procedures done and after this fusion told my husband i will have to be crawling to get something else done.

Wow! You sure have been through a lot!
I simply fell on the ice in a parking lot and ended up with a pilon fracture. I was diagnosed with arthritis a few months after. Last year I decided to have my ankle fused due to all the pain. That is when the dr took out all of my hardware. I think the osteomyelitis I had scared him, so he wanted to get all the metal out of my ankle.
Good luck!